How Ski Moguls Are Made

Wondering how ski moguls are made? Making ski moguls can be a confusing phenomenon because of their rapid development on ski slopes. Making moguls may seem unnatural and complicated, but their formation is dependent only on a skier's physical force as he tears it up down the mountain. There's no need to worry if you find your slope is lacking in moguls – with an hour of continuous use, your slope should have naturally made moguls ready for enjoyment.

Formation. Moguls are made naturally by skiers who ride over fresh snow. As the skier descends the mountain, he carves out snow and transfers it to a different area. The skier deposits the snow in his descent, creating small lumps of snow. As multiple riders continue across this terrain, the snow accumulates and forms larger bumps, which eventually make ski moguls.

Movement. Ever wondered why ski moguls seem so perfectly structured? The man-made moguls shift position over time as new skiers remove snow from the existing ski mogul and push it toward the bottom of that mogul. This depositing of snow creates the surprising effect of moguls migrating up the mountain rather than down. Moguls tend to accumulate in orderly rows because of their uphill movement.

Hand-Made Moguls. In our age of technology, it would seem as though ski resorts could use a machine to make moguls without a skier's help. But moguls are generally only made naturally by physical force, because it is easier and less costly to allow skiers to build their own moguls through continued snow erosion than to hand-make moguls with expensive machines.